Page:Romance of the Rose (Ellis), volume 1.pdf/284

Them up to scorn, nor through my tongue
Shall good or evil folk be stung.7400
Let all and each their burdens bear,
And each and all confess them where
It please them, or confess them not,
The case is none of mine, God wot.
No lust have I to say or do
Such things as folly lead unto.
Although to keep a silent tongue
May be small merit, yet among
The foulest crimes it is to say
Things it behoves us hide away.7410

The tongue needs a bridle The tongue hath sorely need of rein,
As Ptolemy doth well explain
In that fair book, the ‘Almagest’;
For in its opening he addressed
Himself to show that those do well
Who keep their tongues beneath the spell
Of silence, saving when they raise
Loud voice to God in prayer or praise,
For then need men seek no excuse
However much their tongues they loose,7420
For never yet was tongue too free
In praising God’s high majesty.
Of due obedience, love, and fear
No mortal who life’s bark doth steer
E’er gave his God too much; his gift
It is that man from earth may lift
His soul to heaven.
Great Cato said
The same, as those well know who’ve read
His book, for we therein may find
He hath the highest praise assigned7430